Decode

Valentines day – so what?

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Valentines day is almost here. As someone who is currently single, that doesn’t mean much to me. I’ll be spending Valentines day having lunch with a friend (at home since she refuses to go to a restaurant for fear of being surrounded by smoochy couples), playing golf and watching lots of TV. I might even do some cleaning.

I do wonder what I’m missing out on when I hear (mostly on Oprah) about people with great love lives. Some research DECODE recently carried out showed some scarily attractive traits of people with great love lives. They are more planet conscious, less self conscious, more environmental, eat more organic and less processed food, feel healthier, make more money, have more friends and are more optimistic about work and about life in general. Love seems to transcend relationships and cross into other spheres of life – loving the planet, loving work, loving life…

How does this affect people at work? It seems that those in fulfilled relationships make better employees. Why? They are more likely to be confident and to be engaged in their work. They are more ambitious and loyal to a cause, believing that they want to be leaders one day, and that if they love their jobs the money will follow. People who feel they have great love lives also view their employers more favourably, believing that their employers will be loyal to them. They are healthier, and combined with all these other traits, this might mean fewer sick days.

One key thing that caught my attention – people are less likely to have great love lives if they live with their parents. Maybe its time I moved out.